Grandmaster was directed by Wong Kar Wai not Zhang Yimou. Wong Kar Wai is an acclaimed art house film director who had won many awards. But every moviegoer knows that his films are very draggy and slow moving, hardly entertaining as his focus is on brilliant cinematography. The Grandmaster was no exception and many fell asleep during the show. And if u watched it on dvd, u can never finish watching iit. Grandmaster took more than 10 years to make. The only saving grace in that show was the lead actress Zhang Zhiyi. She played her role extraordinary well resulting in her winning the best actress award at Golden Horse. But as a moive Ilo Ilo is anytime more watchable than Grandmaster.
